Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

Only in America.

American gamers have no skill. That thought, true or not, was what prompted the creation of this game &#Array; the United States' Super Mario Bros. 2, which looks nothing like the original Super Mario adventure. There are no Goombas here, and no Hammer Brothers. King Koopa's been dethroned and replaced by a giant, croaking frog. The setting isn't even in the Mushroom Kingdom any more. But why? Because American gamers have no skill.

That was the perception that kept the real Super Mario Bros. 2 from leaving Japan. There, in Nintendo's home country, the true sequel was released &#Array; with Goombas, and Hammer Brothers, and King Koopa himself &#Array; but also with an incredible level of challenge. The enemies, obstacles and level designs created for the Japanese Mario 2 were tough. So tough, in fact, that Nintendo feared American players would be too frustrated by them and be turned away from the Mario brand, and Nintendo video games altogether.

The company couldn't have that happen. So what we in the States got as Super Mario Bros. 2 was this game, now re-releasing on the Virtual Console, originally crafted in the '80s as a conversion of the much friendlier and easy-to-play Japanese Famicom title, Doki Doki Panic. And no one seemed to care. The gameplay was totally different, the mechanics were altered, the setting and enemies were totally unfamiliar &#Array; but even given all of that, this title was still accepted, adopted and loved by Mario fans all across the country.

This time around, the plucky plumber isn't alone &#Array; you can play as Mario, or you can choose instead to control his brother Luigi, the mushroom retainer Toad or the pink-clad princess, Peach. Each of the four has their own unique abilities. Mario is well rounded, with average strength, speed and jumping skill. Luigi is the high jumper, as his leaps carry him up, up and away through taller vertical distances while his legs spin wildly underneath. Toad's best asset is his muscular power, allowing him to pick up enemies and pluck vegetables faster than the others. And Peach is the best for long-distance gaps &#Array; she hovers in the air after a jump for a few seconds, if you hold the jump button down, and can use that trait to pass over pits that none of the male characters could clear.

The option to play as multiple different characters was novel for a Mario title, and has remained so since &#Array; the only more modern Mario adventure to allow that many playable characters is the DS version of Super Mario 64. It helped boost the game's replayability by a factor of four, because sure, you can clear the later levels easily with your own favorite character, but have you ever tried playing through the entire game with each and every one of them?

Another novelty of Super Mario Bros. 2 was, and is, its enemies. Even though it wasn't originally meant to be a Mario game, many characters making their debut in this title became staples of later series games. Shy Guys and Bob-ombs are the most notable common foes, and the transgendered question mark Birdo is nearly as recognized as Yoshi in many modern Mario Sports and Kart games.

But all nostalgia and historical influence aside, Super Mario Bros. 2 is still a game worth playing on the merits of its gameplay alone. It's a solid side-scrolling platformer that did lots of new things in an era that was already straying toward copycat cloning of popular conventions. The "pick up and throw" mechanic was fresh, and still feels fun today. The levels were varied and all suitably wacky (you can pull vegetables out of the backs of whales swimming in the ocean in one). And the interaction with in-level items like bombs to clear blocked paths, keys to open locked doors and potions to create portals to bonus worlds all came together to create one great, fun experience.

The Verdict

American gamers really do have the skill to play the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, but it was a good move by Nintendo anyway to create this less frustrating, more funky game &#Array; the American Mario 2 is still a lot of fun, and it inspired several aspects of future Super Mario titles. At 500 Wii Points, it's a great value for download. The only reason you may not want to pick it up is if, like Super Mario World, you already own it in another form &#Array; this game was re-released with enhanced graphics and a few other bonuses as Super Mario Advance for the launch of the Game Boy Advance back in 2001. As for the "real" Super Mario Bros. 2? Who knows. But the Virtual Console offers Nintendo a great avenue to distribute it here in its original 8-bit form, should the company ever decide we can handle it.